Bring peace to the Middle East! 7: A popular book 2

I examine again above-referenced book “ What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response”

前回に続いて、本「イスラム世界はなぜ没落したか？」を検討します。

Disappointing result of this book

The author in this book radically despises the Islamic society of the Middle East.

He introduces poor performances that the administration officials of the past Islamic nations did in the diplomacy or the politics, and so he induces laughter.

Most of Westerner taking pride in advanced society may recognize the Islamic society is stagnation.

However, his book has unfair writing style that you cannot see in normal history book.

For example, as for apprehending the society, he picks up some trifling anecdotes from the Ottoman Empire several hundred years ago, and doesn’t describe it with a holistic approach such as economy, and therefore it becomes emotional.

If modern Japan is evaluated as an underdeveloped country by an anecdote of the Edo Period, can Japanese understand it?

この本の残念な点

この本は中東のイスラム社会を侮蔑することに終始している。

過去のイスラム国家の外交や政治、あるいは高官のお粗末さを紹介し笑いを誘う。

先進社会を自負する欧米人から見れば、この社会は停滞に写るだろう。

しかし、通常の歴史書ではありえない公正さを欠いた書き方です。

例えば、数百年前のオスマン帝国を話題に取り上げ、些末な逸話で笑いを取り、経済など全体的に捉えるのではなく情緒的なものが多い。

もし江戸時代の逸話をもって現代の日本も後進国であると嘲笑されても、あなは納得するだろうか。

＜ 2. Istanbul was a capital of Ottoman Empire ＞

＜ ２． オスマン帝国の首都だったイスタンブール ＞

Let us say that there will be bad political culture that keeps on living in the present day in the Islamic world.

If so, from hopeless Ottoman Empire, why would a republican system of government be born?

Moreover, it had secular politics, separation of power, creation of a constitution, and woman’s suffrage.

And Turkey developed the economy smoothly.

Here, the author says, “ The success was largely due to that Ataturk had had a Western air.”

On the other hand, he presses the reason that Arab cannot modernize, because Arab hates westernization, being unlike a Turk.

Such a self-serving argument is seen everywhere.

In other words, he uses any topic for criticism, but completely ignores the result that you should recognize.

However, unfortunately, this book became a bestseller in the United States.

The society that he should curse with is not large Islamic world, but the Middle East then Arab being Israeli enemy.